Cambodian Association of New York - Message from Bong Supharidh Hy

Hi folks,

I'm sorry for the delay as I was swamped with hundred little things that consumed more times than I had budgeted.

As a start, here are my thoughts that I develop on the basis of our last discussion for the planned NYCCAA: New York City Cambodian-Americans Association. Please do the surgery to the draft according to your own and personal perception; nothing is cast in stone. We'll compare notes at the next meeting.

Vision: 

- To cement relationship between Cambodian-Americans in NYC to an active group so that it can participate on a larger stage/platform of any political/social/cultural debates, discussions and activities;

- To enable Cambodian-Americans to speak in a unified voice on issues and questions that are related to Cambodia and Cambodian-Americans, both in the US and in Cambodia.

Objectives:

- To gather Cambodian-Americans residing in NYC into a legally established association;

- To create a spirit of community of Cambodian-Americans and a bond among registered members;

- To build a representability model on behalf of Cambodian-Americans in NYC;

- To interact with other Cambodian or Cambodian-American associations/societies/groups/committees in the US and in Cambodia;

- To provide suggestions on issues encountered by members of the Cambodian-American community seeking consultation/advice/guidance.

Starting Actions/Activities:

- Creating a consensus among founders/initiators on the fundamentals of the association;

- Defining steps towards the concretization of NYCCAA;

- Designing a working modality.

Membership:

- Cambodian-Americans residing in NYC;

- Any other person not residing in NYC who wishes to join.

Discussion on NYCAC think tank vs an Association

Hi Everyone,

 

We had several meetings already and the idea of creating of NYCAC still doesn't take any shape yet. As I already told you yesterday that I'm always been a technocrat all my life and I've never been involved with any social or political organization before, so I can say that I'm a narrow minded person concerning this new group that we are proposing. My question is what is the audience of our Think-tank? Would it be better off for Cambodians in NY/NJ if we re-create a Cambodian Association of NY/NJ with clear objective and transparency policy to avoid future troubles relating to the handling of fund? I thank you guys for your confident with our Temple transparency policy that Kenny and I hold dear to our heart, a policy that makes a big impact on our Temple management to get support from our community and as the consequence of that trust we can raise more than $100K for our temple repair jobs. It's a record setting for our Temple in this small community.

 

I believe that an Association with a transparent policy can serve our people better because we will have a bigger support base and a better chance on influencing our people conduct and their thinking and as the consequence improving the image of Cambodian in this part of the States. If the leadership are clean and transparent I believe we will have support from our people. If we will be successful  then we can export our way of running an association to the other states. As good leaders in democratic society, Kenny and I will be more than happy to have other leaders take over the job from us if they can do a good job. Same thing will apply to the new association as well. We are here to serve our community, not to take advantage of it.

 

Best regards,

 

Mean